Updates and Newsletters: The main news stories from the major sources, selected, compiled, and occasionally commented on by Michael Novakhov ("Mike Nova") | Public RSS Feeds on the various topics of Global Security | Topics oriented news reviews

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed allegations that Argentine President Cristina Kirchner had plotted with Iran to cover up its alleged role in a 1994 terrorist attack here, saying there was no evidence whatsoever of any crime.

China now has more submarines than the U.S., though the vessels are inferior to the U.S. fleet.

Vice Admiral Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for capabilities and resources, said the vessels are part of China’s expansion into more geographic areas of operation for longer periods of time, Reuters reports. His comments mark the latest expression of concern from some U.S. officials over the Chinese military buildup.

Russian President Vladimir Putin saw his approval ratings tick up to 86% even as the economy reels from Western sanctions and falling oil prices.

Levada Center, a Moscow-based pollster, released a poll Thursday showing Putin’s approval ratings increased one percentage point from a month earlier.

Putin’s approval numbers have soared nearly twenty points since early 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and sent relations with the West tumbling to the lowest levels since the end of the Cold War. His ratings reached a high of 87% in August.

The high ratings come even as the Russian economy faces recession. The ruble has lost nearly half of its value in the past twelve months, and the government expects the economy to shrink 3 percent this year, the first drop since 2009.

It can be hard to tell how reliable polling numbers are in Russia, though Levada is considered the most dependable. It’s likely though that Putin’s showdown with the West has won him fresh support amid a surge in nationalism — and the Russian media’s positive spin on everything Putin may have also helped boost his popularity.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Iranian nuclear negotiators in Montreux, Switzerland, next week, a State Department spokeswoman said Thursday. During his trip, Kerry also is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday in Geneva to discuss Ukraine and Syria, department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in a daily briefing. Additionally, Kerry is to speak to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Psaki said. He also will...

Racism and violent Islamism feed each other in a vicious circle: we must counter the narrative of victimhood

The unveiling of Mohammed Emwazi as the man behind the “Jihadi John” mask is a reminder that Islamist extremism is an ideology that is accessible to all. It is clear from the news in the past week how powerful a draw it is for such a diverse range of people.

From the Bangladeshi-heritage east London schoolgirls to Emwazi, the well-off west Londoner of Kuwaiti heritage, Islamic State (Isis) and other extremists recruit from across British society. It is this inherent vulnerability that should inform what is the most appropriate response, without doubt a civil society one.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sounding a likely retreat, House Republicans weighed short-term funding Thursday to prevent a partial shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security while temporarily leaving in place Obama administration immigration policies they have vowed to repeal....

In 2008, Canadian economist Jeff Rubin stunned the oil market with a bold prediction: With the world economy growing at 5 percent a year, oil demand would grow with it, outpacing supply, thus lifting the oil price from $147 to over $200 a barrel.

The former chief economist at CIBC World Markets was so convinced of his thesis, he wrote a book about it. “Why the World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller” forecast a sea change in the global economy, all driven by unsustainably high oil prices, where domestic manufacturing is reinvigorated at the expense of seaborne trade and people’s choices become driven by the ever-increasing prices of fossil fuels.

In the book, Rubin dedicates an entire chapter to the changing oil supply picture, with his main argument being that oil companies “have their hands between the cushions” looking for new oil, since all the easily recoverable oil is either gone or continues to be depleted – at the rate of around 6.7% a year (IEA figures). “Even if the depletion rate stops rising, we must find nearly 20 million barrels a day of new production over the next five years simply to keep global production at its current level,” Rubin wrote, adding that the new oil will match the same level of consumption in 2015, as five years earlier in 2010. In other words, new oil supplies can’t keep up with demand.

Of course, Rubin at the time was talking about conventional oil – land-based and undersea oil – as well as unconventional oil sands. The shale oil “revolution” in the United States that took off soon after the publication of his book has certainly changed the supply picture, and the recent collapse in oil prices has forced Rubin to eat his words. With U.S. shale oil production soaring from 600,000 barrels a day in 2008 to 3.5 million barrels a day in 2014, the United States over the past few years has flooded the market with new oil from its shale formations, including the Eagle Ford in South Texas and the Bakken in North Dakota. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total U.S. production (conventional and unconventional) will increase to 9.3 million barrels a day this year, the most since 1972.

While some observers, including oil giant BP, are now predicting a slowdown in U.S. shale oil production as wells are depleted at a faster rate, to be replaced by Middle Eastern output that has lost ground to U.S. shale, the thesis posed by Jeff Rubin in 2008, that the world is running out of oil, seems to have changed to: Is the world swimming in oil?

In this continuing climate of abundant oil production, Oilprice.com sought to find out where the new oil will be found. The data could be used in a further analysis to determine whether an oversupplied market will continue to depress oil prices into the future – or whether a price correction is likely given a tightening of the market on the supply side.

According to a 2013 report by Wood Mackenzie, the world holds 1.4 trillion barrels of oil equivalent oil and gas reserves, with the Middle East, Latin America, North America and Africa identified as the key regions for future oil plays.

Of course, many of the new fields are uneconomic at current prices, so it is instructive to look at the largest oil fields to see where oil producers are likely to keep pumping, even though many of these fields are in decline.

They include Ghawar and Safaniya in Saudi Arabia, Burgan in Kuwait, and Rumalia and West Qurna-2 in Iraq. These five fields were named the most important by Oilprice.com in an article last June. Ghawar, the world’s largest field, has an estimated 70 billion barrels of remaining reserves, more than all but seven other countries, according to the EIA. In production since the 1950s, it continues to produce at 5 million barrels a day.

If you noticed the dominance of the Middle East in this list, you’d be right. Current estimates have over 80 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves located in OPEC member countries, with Middle Eastern reserves comprising 65 percent of the OPEC total.

Adding to the Oilprice.com list, Forbes named Majnoon in Iraq, Khuzestan (also the name of a province) in Iran, Kashagan in the Caspian Sea, Khurais in Saudi Arabia, the Tupi field offshore Brazil, Carabobo in Venezuela’s Orinoco heavy oil belt, and the North Slope of Alaska among its top 10 fields of the future.

Fortune places the Orinoco belt in Venezuela among its six largest untapped fields, at an eye-watering 513 billion barrels of recoverable crude. In comparison the Chicontapec Basin in Mexico, also on the list, is a Lilliputian at 10 billion barrels. Others include the Santos and Campos Basins in offshore Brazil, at 123 billion barrels, the Supergiant field in the southwest desert of Iraq, at between 45 and 100 billion barrels, and the Jubilee Field in Ghana, estimated to contain 1.8 billion barrels of recoverable crude.

The Canadian oil sands should of course also be included in the matrix of future oil supply. Despite the difficulty and higher-cost, compared to conventional sources, of stripping the bitumen from the oil sands and processing it into heavy oil, the vastness of the reserves contained in the sands of northern Alberta cannot be underestimated. According to the Alberta government the oil sands has proven reserves of about 168 billion barrels, the third largest proven crude oil reserve in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Canadian oil sands production is forecasted to grow from about 2 million barrels per day to 3.7 million barrels per day by 2020 and 5.2 million barrels per day by 2030, according to Alberta Energy.

Many have pointed to the Arctic as the answer to the depletion of existing oil and gas fields. The region, which crosses Russia, Alaska, Norway and Greenland, is estimated to hold 166 billion barrels of oil equivalent, more oil and gas than Iran and enough to meet the world’s entire consumption of crude oil for five years, reported The Daily Telegraph.

Drilling down a bit further, the US Geological Survey estimates that over 87% of the Arctic’s oil and gas resources are located in seven Arctic basin provinces: Arctic Alaska Basin, East Barents Basin, East Greenland Basin, West Greenland East Canada Basin, East Greenland Rift Basin, West Siberian Basin and the Yenisey-Khatang Basin.

The Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska, which has been pumping oil since 1977, is the largest oil field in North America, at about 25 billion barrels. Around 16 percent of the Arctic’s undiscovered oil and gas is located on land, with the remaining potential either locked in continental shelves or underwater at depths over 500 metres.

Of the seven basins outlined by the USGS, the most abundant is Arctic Alaska, at 29.36 billion barrels of crude oil, followed by the Amerasia Basin, at 9.72 billon, and the East Greenland Rift Basin at 8.90 billion, according toGeology.com.

Among the oil majors eyeing the Arctic prize, Shell has been drilling off the coast of Alaska for decades, Statoil is active in the Norwegian Arctic, and ExxonMobil is exploring with Russia’s Rosneft in the Russian far north. Last year Rosneft/ ExxonMobil discovered a field that could hold up to 730 million barrels of oil, but for the time being, exploration looks thin. With low oil prices, most oil companies are reining in capital costs, and exploration expenditures are a high-priority line item. Statoil and Chevron have both put their Arctic plans on ice, and the ExxonMobil partnership with Rosneft could be in trouble due to Western sanctions against Russia. Shell is currently the only company sinking any capital into the Arctic, with the Anglo-Dutch firm announcing at the end of January that it plans to proceed with a $1-billion Arctic drilling this summer.

And what of the shale oil reserves that have propelled the United States to becoming close to energy-independent and threaten to knock Saudi Arabia off its pedestal as the world’s top oil producer? In 2013, the EIA conducted the first-ever U.S. analysis of global shale oil reserves. It estimated “technically recoverable” (as opposed to economically recoverable) shale oil resources of 345 billion barrels in 42 countries, the equivalent of 10 percent of global crude oil supplies – and enough to cover over a decade of oil consumption.

According to the EIA, Russia and the United States have the largest shale oil resources, at a respective 75 billion barrels and 58 billion barrels, followed by China, Argentina and Libya. The other countries on the top 10 list of countries with technically recoverable shale include Australia, Venezuela, Mexico, Pakistan and Canada.

The EIA report also shows a marked increase in the number of prospective shale deposits globally compared to an earlier 2011 report. That report listed 32 countries with shale versus 41 in 2013, 48 basins versus 95, and half the number of formations, at 69 in 2011 versus 137 in 2013.

The Pew Research Center found that Jews were harassed by governments or social groups in 77 countries of the 198 in the study, up from 71 countries the year before. The study measured both instances of government policies that restrict religious practices and private acts of hostility and found that Jews were far more likely to face private attacks or abuse than other religious groups.

Christianity, the world’s most widespread religion, faced instances of harassment in 102 countries. Among Christians, most instances involved government harassment. Muslims were harassed in 99 countries.

Harassment of Jews in 2013 was particularly prevalent in Europe. Among 45 European countries, 34 registered instances of private attacks on Jews, a higher proportion than any other geographic region. In March 2013, for example, three men attacked a young man wearing a kippah in a Paris suburb, threatening, “We will kill all of you Jews.” In August, vandals painted a Swastika on the walls of a bull ring outside Madrid. Some 32 countries in Europe saw private attacks on Muslims.

Among the world’s 25 largest countries, the study found that overall levels of harassment against all religious groups were highest in Burma, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and Russia. But overall, the share of countries worldwide with social hostilities involving religion declined in 2013 — dropping six percentage points from 33% to 27%.

A new video purporting to show militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) destroying ancient artifacts at a museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul has sent waves through the global art community.

Militants in the footage are shown pushing statues to the floor and smashing others with hammers.The Guardian reports that a man speaking to the camera then aims to justify the acts, citing how they didn’t exist in the time of the Prophet Muhammad and were worshipped by irreligious people.

The director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art condemned what he called the “catastrophic destruction to one of the most important museums in the Middle East.”

“This mindless attack on great art, on history, and on human understanding constitutes a tragic assault not only on the Mosul Museum, but on our universal commitment to use art to unite people and promote human understanding,” Thomas P. Campbell said in a statement.

Corine Wegener, a cultural heritage officer at the Smithsonian Institution who helps preserve ancient works at risk in war zones, labeled it the “wonton and unnecessary destruction of cultural heritage.”

“[ISIS] has a particular viewpoint about what’s offensive,” she told TIME. Wegener has helped facilitate workshops on how to protect cultural history in Syria and Iraq, in a partnership with the Penn Cultural Heritage Center and other groups. “The fact that they really feel this is something they have to do because they’re emulating the Prophet Muhammad makes our work really difficult.”

She adds, “the best we can do as cultural heritage professionals is to remind everyone that cultural heritage belongs to us all.”

The destruction at the Mosul Museum also prompted the cultural arm of the United Nations to call for the Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on protecting Iraq’s cultural heritage. “This attack is far more than a cultural tragedy,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement, adding, “this is also a security issue as it fuels sectarianism, violent extremism and conflict in Iraq.”

The video showing the destruction of ancient works, including statues from the UNESCO world heritage site Hatra, is among the latest attacks on significant artifacts by the Islamist extremists. ISIS has reportedly destroyed thousands of books and manuscripts from Mosul’s central library.

Azerbaijan is transforming into a mini-RussiaQuartzThe West's renewed difficulties with Russia have once again highlighted the importance of cutting resource-dependency on antagonistic states. No one can disagree that Europe surely must find alternative sources of natural gas. And it is vital that the ...and more »

Withdrawl of artillery and creation of buffer zone is second step after ceasefire in 12-point agreement agreed in truce talks

Kiev’s forces have begun pulling back heavy weapons from the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, marking a step forward for the troubled peace plan agreed in Minsk this month.

Army command said on Thursday that it would withdraw 100mm cannons from the current demarcation line over the next 24 hours, barring attacks by Russia-backed rebels. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the military, later said a second phase of the withdrawal would be pull back heavier weapons, including the 120mm mortars that have been a feature of the conflict.

After years of mutual mistrust and jockeying for regional power, Saudi Arabia and Iran may be on their way to mending fences, analysts say. Mutual concerns over the emergence of the so-called Islamic State group in the region and Iran’s impending nuclear deal with the West are providing stimulus for Riyadh and Tehran to head towards détente, analysts say. “If there is a deal on the nuclear issue, then this will bring Iran back as a participant in the dynamics of the international community, which will force it to become more pragmatic and more moderate,” said Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “And this is in Saudi Arabia’s interests because the more extreme Iran becomes, the more threatening it becomes.” From friends to rivals Saudi Arabia is a conservative Sunni Islamic kingdom, home to Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. As such, it regards itself as the rightful leader of the Islamic world. Iran is a Shi’ite Islamic republic, which has sought to exert religious influence over Shia populations elsewhere in the region. Some four decades ago, both countries were relatively politically aligned and had friendly relations with the West. But things changed after the 1979 revolution in Iran and the return of exiled Ayatollah Rouhollah Mousavi Khomeini, who resented the Saudi kingdom’s relationship with the West. “The Islamic Republic quickly started exporting the revolution in the Middle East,” said Khatib. “They were trying to get Shia populations in the region to accept the supreme leader’s [Khomeini’s] model of Islamic jurisprudence as the only acceptable political and religious model for [the] population.” Saudi Arabia saw this as a challenge to its own influence as a regional actor in the Middle East. “Iran’s concern about Saudi Arabia is similar to Saudi Arabia’s concern about Iran. Both these countries are using theocracy as a basis for increasing and expanding political influence,” Khatib added. Conspiracy fears And in the end, the rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran is about far more than religion, said Alireza Nader, a senior international policy analyst at RAND and author of Iran After the Bomb. “The Saudis thought, especially, that the United States favored Iran in the region over Saudi Arabia, and there is a persistent Saudi fear to this day that the United States and Iran might work behind Saudi Arabia’s back and come to a secret agreement that leaves the Saudis in the cold,” says Nader. Experts generally agree that whatever the crisis in the Middle East over the past thirty years—Israeli-Palestinian tensions, the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf and Iraq Wars, Syria’s civil war, the rise of the Islamic State or the recent Houthi takeover in Yemen—there always seems to be a degree of Saudi and Iranian involvement, always on opposite sides. The rivalry is especially evident in present-day Iraq and Syria, says Nader. “The conflicts in Iraq and Syria are being fueled by Iran and Saudi Arabia…Iran backs Shia militias in Iraq and it’s a big supporter of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Nader said At the same time, he said, the Saudis support Sunni groups in Lebanon and they also are among some of the biggest backers of the Sunni-led insurgency in Syria. New commonality “Today, both countries are suffering the blowback of their rivalry, particularly Iran,” says Nader. “For example, low oil prices that are in part attributed to Saudi policy on oil exports and are really further damaging Iran’s economy. And Saudi Arabia is facing tremendous insecurity over [the] Houthi Shia takeover of the Yemeni government.” And for the first time, Iran and Saudi Arabia face a common enemy at their borders—the Islamic State, which, as the militant group has made clear, has long-term ambitions for the region as a “state project.” “ISIS is an extremist Sunni organization that poses a direct challenge to Iran’s Shi’ism, because it regards the Shia as apostates,” says Carnegie’s Khatib, using another shorthand name for the group. “At the same time, ISIS is presenting itself as the true version of Wahhabism, which is a true challenge to Saudi Arabia’s interpretation of Islam, and that means ISIS threatens Saudi Arabia’s claims to religious legitimacy.” Observers agree that, as the Islamic State grows, in terms of influence, membership and military strength, it ultimately threatens everything that the Saudis and Iranians have worked to achieve. Looking to co-exist In view of the realities on the ground there has been a spurt in renewed communication between Riyadh and Tehran, signaling an apparent bilateral interest in thawing chilly relations. Iran's deputy foreign minister met with the Saudi foreign minister in Jeddah last August for the first high-level talks between the two countries since Hassan Rouhani was elected Iran’s president in 2013. One month later, their respective foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “I think that both sides have come to terms with the fact that neither government or regime is going to go away any time soon, and that they have to find a way to co-exist,” says RAND’s Nader. “The basic rules of the game have been established, and that would explain why there hasn’t been any outbreak of direct violence, obviously, or a conflict between the two.” Some analysts believe that if Western powers reach a successful nuclear deal with Iran, it might help reduce mistrust between Riyadh and Tehran, and pave the way to warmer relations, ultimately altering the dynamics in the entire region. Some ‘ifs’ remain But there are still a lot of ifs. “If the Saudis come to believe that the deal isn’t that bad and that a lessening of tensions between the U.S. and Iran could be beneficial to their interests,” Nader said, “and if they view that they can come to an accommodation with Iran in the region—that one country isn’t going to surpass the other but will have to live with each other and their respective areas of influence, then I think there is still a possibility that we could see a warming of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.” A nuclear deal would benefit Iran because it would lessen the economic burden of sanctions. However, Khatib warns that Iran will not accept just any deal. It needs a deal that will help it save face when it comes to Saudi Arabia—and saving face is very important to Tehran. This is where Khatib sees the United States as playing a pivotal role. “The U.S. is leading the nuclear negotiations with Iran and has indicated that it is serious about reaching a deal,” says she, “and the U.S. needs to continue trying to earn Iranian trust on this matter. This week, after months of negotiations, officials reported they may be close to reaching a framework deal by early March, opening the door for a final accord to be hammered out by July 1, the agreed upon deadline.

His nomination was barely confirmed, but within hours new U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter was jetting off to Afghanistan and Kuwait. He met with U.S. troops, top officials in the region and vowed to go after militants of the so-called Islamic State, Carter has had plenty of experience having previously served as a top Pentagon official, and experts say on his first trip as Secretary of Defense, Carter was looking for perspective. Carla Babb reports.

The top U.S. intelligence official said Thursday that supplying Ukraine with weapons to fight Moscow-backed separatists would provoke a "negative reaction" from Russia's president, but that he personally backed the idea of providing "lethal assistance" to Kyiv. Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said that while Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions were difficult to predict, a U.S. decision to arm Ukraine could lead to Russia delivering more advanced weaponry to the separatists. "I think the intelligence community view is that if we were to provide lethal assistance to Ukraine, that this would evoke a negative reaction from Putin and the Russians," he said. "It could potentially further remove the very thin fig leaf of their position that they have not been involved in Ukraine and could lead to accelerating or promoting more weaponry of higher sophistication to the separatist areas to support the separatists." Clapper said he personally "would favor" providing Ukraine with defensive weapons, but added that this was his "personal perspective" and "does not represent an official company policy of the intelligence community." White House officials say they are still considering arming Ukraine, whose forces have at times been outgunned by the separatists. Clapper said finding a lasting solution to the Ukraine crisis that allows Kyiv to pursue Western integration "will be difficult, to say the least." "Moscow sees itself in direct confrontation with the West over Ukraine and will be very prone to overreact to U.S. actions," he said. "Putin's goals are to keep Ukraine out of NATO and ensure separatists control an autonomous entity within Ukraine. He wants Moscow to retain leverage over Kyiv, and Crimea in his view is simply not negotiable. Russia's dominance over the former Soviet space is Russia's highest foreign policy goal." Clapper said he thought Putin was not bent on capturing all of Ukraine, but wanted a separatist "entity" in eastern Ukraine that would include the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He said Russia was also seeking a "land bridge to Crimea," the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine last year, and the port of Mariupol, which separatist forces rocketed in late January. He said he did not think the rebels were planning an "imminent" attack on Mariupol but wanted to "regroup" and "wait until spring" to start an offensive targeting the port. At the same Senate hearing, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, said U.S. lethal aid to Ukraine "couldn't be delivered quickly enough or change the balance of power on the ground." When Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona challenged him, saying that assertion "defies logic," Stewart responded that the separatists and their Russian backers "could resupply a lot faster with a lot heavier weaponry than we could deliver." The Obama administration is under pressure from McCain and other lawmakers to provide arms to Ukraine. The United States has already provided nonlethal equipment to the Ukraine government.

No, Obama, Russia's Economy Isn't 'in Tatters'Bloomberg ViewBashing the Russian economy has lately become a popular pastime. In his state of the nation address last month, U.S. President Barack Obama said it was "in tatters." And yesterday, Anders Aslund of the Peterson Institute for International Economics ...

»Obama Defends Immigration Plan26/02/15 14:48 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story from Voice of America. President Barack Obama raised the political pressure on the opposition over immigration Wednesday, telling members of Miami's Latino community that Republicans were to blame for stalling ...

»2,369,3972,369,3972015-02-26#Iraq26/02/15 13:35 from Mike Nova - Google+2,369,397 2,369,397 2015-02-26 #Iraq #ISIS #Syria The names: This is who ISIS has recruited from the West The names: This is who ISIS has recruited from the West Thursday February 26 th , 2015 at 10:36 AM CNN.Com - World 1 Share More t...

»Kids With Guns. What Could Go Wrong?26/02/15 11:18 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. A recent event at a St. Petersburg kindergarten that allowed students as young as 5 years old to hold automatic rifles and grenade launchers has set off a firestorm of cr...

»Reuters Bureau chief found dead26/02/15 11:13 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story . ISLAMABAD - Reuters' Bureau chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Maria Golovnina, was found dead here on Monday. Her sudden death though sparked a debate about the cause of death, local police said that her bo...

»Why Bashar Assad Won’t Fight ISIS26/02/15 10:30 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story from TIME. The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has long had a pragmatic approach to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), says a Syrian businessman with close ties to the government. Even ...

»South Korea Overturns Adultery Ban26/02/15 09:57 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A South Korean court has struck down a controversial, decades-old law that bans extra-marital sex. The Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled by a vote of 7-2 seven to two against the adu...

»This Is What Putin Really Wants26/02/15 09:45 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story . At a news conference in Budapest on February 17 , Russian president Vladimir Putin engaged in one of his favorite pastimes: sparring with journalists. One reporter asked if Putin thought the newly brokered ce...

»Can Russia Afford Transnestr?26/02/15 08:44 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. As Russia wrestles with its own economic woes, the government's ability to underwrite Transdnestr - along with other breakaway client entities, such as South Ossetia - is comi...

»The Daily Vertical: Baltic Jitters26/02/15 08:39 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that will appear Monday through Friday. Viewers can submit suggested topics to address on Twitter @PowerVertical ...

»What Makes Putin Run? - Newsweek25/02/15 22:34 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinksmikenova shared this story from Putin - Google News. Newsweek What Makes Putin Run? Newsweek If you want to understand how Czar Putin views the world, how his view differs from our own, what motivates him, and how he responds, read this ...

»2,364,3122,364,3122015-02-25#ISIS25/02/15 20:56 from Mike Nova - Google+2,364,312 2,364,312 2015-02-25 #ISIS #brooklyn Three Brooklyn men charged in plot to join ISIS, commit acts of terror in United States, Feds say Three Brooklyn men charged in plot to join ISIS, commit acts of terror in United States, Fed...